Twilight and Spike in Space Ace
Twilight and Spike in Space Ace is an animated comic film that is a sequel to Twilight and Spike in Dragon's Lair, this time about the Don Bluth video game Space Ace. Synopsis In this sequel to ''Twilight and Spike in Dragon's Lair'', Twilight Sparkle learns that her weakened brother, Shining Armor, is to be called up into the army in order to fight the invading Space Huns, led by Borf, who is seeking to attack Earth with his "Infanto Ray" to render Earthlings helpless by reverting them into infants. Knowing that Shining Armor would never survive the rigours of war in his state, Twilight decides to disguise herself and join in his place. Spike the Dragon, Kari, a gentle, compassionate girl, Ace, a dashing hero and Kimberly, a tomboyish damsel all help Twilight in the perilous times ahead. Plot One year after the events of the first movie, the legendary Great Wall of Mars fails to keep out the notorious Space Hun army and their ruthless leader, Commander Borf. The alarm is raised, and the Emperor entrusts General Sam Deckard with mobilizing an army to protect the Milky Way galaxy. The wise Emperor reminds the general that "one man can be the difference between victory and defeat." Twilight Sparkle is asleep in her bed when she's stirred awake by a lamp switching on. She sees Spike reading a comic book and tells him to go to sleep, but Spike asks for two more minutes. He proceeds to talk at length about the Power Ponies, their sidekick Hum Drum, and the evil Mane-iac. Twilight sympathizes with Spike's investment in a book, but states they'll need to be well-rested to help fix up Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's old castle in the morning. Spike relents and goes to bed. The next morning, while escorted by Princess Celestia, at the Empire train station, Twilight and her friends meet with Shining Armor, who volunteers to be a coach at the Equestria Games. Meanwhile, the rest of the Mane Six set up the stadium: Rainbow Dash saves Pinkie Pie from a pyramid of pies, Fluttershy tames her eccentric draconequus neighbor Discord, and Applejack and Rarity bicker over a dress. Twilight approaches and shares with them her disappointment in the other princesses' rejection of her game ideas. Despite her nervousness, her friends have the utmost confidence in her, leading into the song You Can Do Anything. Ms. Harshwhinny serves as the Equestria Games Inspector. She has apparently built a reputation for being a stickler and perfectionist when scouting hosts for the Games, but when a watery mishap ensues, Ms. Harshwhinny sarcastically suggests Twilight put on a rock concert. Deeply ashamed, Twilight returns home and laments that she is not the princess her friends deserve. Her brother, however, comforts her and encourages more sportsmanship. The Emperor's smug councilman, Tashi, arrives at Ponyville to draft one man from each family for the Imperial Army. Twilight watches in fear as young men are called forward to receive their orders, knowing that her weak brother will be called up as well, being the only male member of the Sparkle family. As Shining Armor is summoned by Tashi, Mulan pleads for her brother to be excused from battle, as he is already a veteran and is afflicted with an injured leg. Shining Armor reprimands her for her interference, and insists he will go to training camp the next day with the other soldiers. Knowing her brother will die if put in combat again, Twilight makes a desperate decision. After her friends are asleep, she dons her brother's armor, and takes his draft information before galloping out to the camp in his place. Shining Armor and Celestia awaken and discover with horror that Twilight has left to join the army. They cannot go after her, for impersonating a soldier is a capital offense, and Twilight would be executed if her identity was revealed. In fact, such a masquerade has its share of complications. For one, Twilight must go alone, as sending her with all of her friends could upset the balance of the other world and complicate her mission further. Spike can still go along, however, and he and Twilight soon charge into the portal. At the same time, in a small library, Kari, a feisty, compassionate and jolly girl, learns of the duo's previous adventure, as their old mentor, the Pagemaster, sends her to guide them on their trip. Meanwhile, at his lair, Commander Borf addresses his minions, Red Parrot Stan and Koopa, that it has been too long that they have been vulnerable to the street lights, night lights, and most importantly the sun. He makes a promise to his fun-loving minions to pilot his dreaded weapon, the Infanto Ray, a machine that reduces Earthlings to helpless infants, so they can party on the surface forever. Twilight arrives at the outskirts of the training camp, terrified of her task and dejectedly telling Spike that it would take a miracle for her plan to work. As if on cue, Kari appears, introducing herself as a trusted guide sent by the Pagemaster and promising to help her become a model soldier. She shows the two her digital device, or digivice, that would make its owner develop into a more powerful being. As a test, she changes into a pink Power Ranger, so only the two could see her. Twilight is impressed enough to fight the war for her brother. She timidly enters the U.S. Space Camp and, following Spike and Kari's instructions on how to interact with men, inadvertently causes a brawl. The ruckus is quelled by Captain Dexter "Ace" Deckard, the son of General Sam Deckard, who was appointed by his father to train the new troops while Sam takes his army to protect Red City, Mars. Ace is unimpressed with the sloppy new recruits, especially awkward Twilight, who presents herself as Shining Armor's little-seen brother Clover the Clever. Spike and Kari support Twilight as she struggles through training, which is especially harrowing because her fellow soldiers are still angry with her for the camp-wide fight on their first day. Ace presents them with a seemingly-impossible task: to climb a huge wooden pole while wearing heavy arm weights to retrieve a hayburger from the top. Twilight finally redeems herself by cleverly using the weights to her advantage, scaling the pole and reaching the burger. The other troops begin to warm up to "Clover," especially tomboyish Kimberly, intelligent Alpha 5, and enormous but gentle Koosy. Twilight has an increasingly difficult time keeping her identity hidden, especially since the men all bathe together in a nearby lake, and Spike is called upon to provide distractions when things get too dangerous. Borf plans to move his army through the Martian Desert, which is the swiftest route to Red City. Though he determines that General Deckard and his army is already guarding the desert, Borf confidently leads the Huns to battle the Imperial Troops. Tashi has remained at training camp to compile a report on the new troops. He remains unimpressed, though the soldiers have successfully completed training, and behaves rudely toward Captain Ace. Spike and Kari, continuing their plan to transform Twilight into a war hero, use the digivice to change into a ranger and messenger dragon to forge a letter from General Deckard, requesting backup troops at the desert. The ruse works, and Ace marches the troops out of camp the following day. When they reach the desert, they find General Deckard and his entire platoon slaughtered. They discover a pre-recorded holographic message left by the General who explains that Borf's Infanto Ray can be destroyed by triggering a chain reaction from an external exhaust port. Ace is shocked and grief-stricken at his father's death, but is all the more determined to stop Borf before he reaches the Emperor. As Twilight and company progress through the desert's rocky mountains, the Huns immediately attack, and it is evident that they greatly outnumber the soldiers. As the Hun army charges toward them, Ace instructs Kimberly to aim their last cannon at Borf. Quick-thinking Twilight swipes the cannon and fires it at the mountainside, causing a huge avalanche that buries the Huns. The soldiers run for safety, with Ace and Twilight narrowly avoiding falling to their deaths over a cliff. Ace thanks Twilight for saving their lives, and gets her medical attention for an injury she sustained from Borf's sword. Twilight can no longer hide her gender, and she is ousted to the rest of the troops. Tashi pressures Ace to execute Twilight immediately, but Ace, while angry at Twilight for her deception, refuses to kill her and leaves her in the mountains. Twilight miserably tells her two remaining friends that entering the army was a mistake, and that she was fated to dishonor her family. Spike finally admits that he was always useless, and that his mission was a selfish one to get his usefulness back. Kari hopes that Twilight and Shining Armor would be together again. They are all about to give up hope when they discover that Borf and many of the Huns had survived the avalanche and are emerging from the snow. Twilight, Spike and Kari rush to Red City to warn of the coming attack. In the city, Ace and his troops are being hailed as heroes for defeating the Huns. Twilight, presenting herself as a woman again, confronts Ace during their victory parade (though Ace, Kimberly, Alpha, and Koosy are noticeably glum) and tells him what she saw in the mountains. Ace dismisses her as a liar, and members of the crowd are deaf to Twilight's words. On the steps of the palace, the Emperor is kidnapped by the Huns, who beat Twilight to the city. Ace, Kimberly, Alpha, and Kimberly turn to Twilight, Spike and Kari for a plan. With the group changed by the digivice into Power Rangers and mounting a wooden pony, they infiltrate the palace and attack the Huns guarding the chamber into which Borf had taken the Emperor. Borf threatens to kill the Emperor if he refuses to bow to him and accept him as the new leader of Mars. The Emperor stoically refuses, but Ace leaps to his aid just in time. As Ace and Borf battle, Koosy carries the Emperor to safety. Twilight then attracts Borf's attention by proving herself to be the soldier who started the avalanche, and the enraged Hun states that he rules all, and would answer to no woman. Twilight proves him wrong and proclaims that while he may have all the magic of space, he lacks the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship. On Twilight's signal, Spike throws Kari's digivice to her, and Twilight develops into an elegant Power Pony. She and Borf duel on the balcony, until he finally pilots the Infanto Ray. Ace tries to defend the pony, but Borf zaps him into an infant turns his wrath from the captain to her. Twilight assaults a trench on the Martian countryside to hit the ray's vulnerable spot. Stan closes in on Twilight, who cowers, but then remembers Shining Armor's words, that she has always been, and always will be, important to him, and continues straight to the ray's core. Stan prepares to destroy Twilight, but Spike and Kari fly in at the last moment, firing a flare that blasts Stan aside. Kari tells Twilight to finish off Borf, since she was now clear to do so. Twilight thanks the two, and accurately fires her magic into the Infanto Ray, and the three friends evaculate, just as the weapon explodes, shrinking Borf down to a harmless miniature version of himself and Stan, eager for revenge, attacks his commander with a flyswatter, chasing him into the distance. As this happens, Ace turns back into his adult self. As the chaos subsides, Tashi verbally attacks Twilight for her actions. Ace angrily defends her until the Emperor appears. He explains to Twilight that, despite her fraud, she has saved the entire galaxy. In the ultimate display of respect, the Emperor bows to Twilight, as do the countless people in the attending crowd. He then offers Twilight a job as his council (to the shock of Tashi), but Twilight respectfully declines and expresses her wish to return home. The Emperor gives her his medallion and Borf's sword as gifts to honor the Sparkle family. The Pagemaster appears and congradulates Twilight and Spike on their visit to Mars. After telling the others goodbye, they leave for home, and the Emperor subtly encourages Ace to follow her before striding off, presumably to see to the restoration of his palace. Back in Equestria, Twilight's friends, Celestia and Discord wait patiently for her return. Twilight emerges through the portal. Her friends run up to greet her, congratulating her on her return and victory. Discord finds this amusing. Princess Celestia states that Shining Armor wants to see his sister right away. At the garden, Shining Armor is overjoyed at the return of his sister. Though she presents him with the Emperor's crest and the sword of Borf, he casts the priceless gifts aside and embraces Twilight, ensuring her that the greatest gift and honor is having her for a sister. Ace and Kari arrive in pony form soon afterward, returning the helmet that Twilight left behind, and awkwardly but happily accept Twilight's invitation to stay for dinner. Twilight's friends immediately pick up that she may have a crush on Ace and playfully tease her, and Pinkie Pie explains that it was "just a hunch". All is well again. Promotional Materials Twilight and Spike in Space Ace poster.jpg|Poster Twilight and Spike in Space Ace DVD cover.png|DVD cover Pony Bluth Double Feature.jpg|Double Feature DVD Trivia Story Behind the Story It has come to my attention that Space Ace is another Don Bluth video game since Dragon's Lair, and that the Digimon and Power Rangers franchises have been acquired by Hasbro, so I figured, why not make a sequel to the Twilight version of Dragon's Lair? Connections * Dom Deluise and Charles Nelson Reilly have been iconic actors in the Don Bluth filmography, which explains the appearances of Koosy and Stan. * Tara Strong and Kevin Michael Richardson have also co-starred in Teen Titans Go!. * The climax of the movie is very similar to that of Star Wars: A New Hope, whose star, Mark Hamill, co-starred with Tara in Batman: The Animated Series. * Twilight's plan to have the group sneak into the Emperor's palace by wooden pony to proceed to the final battle is reminiscent of the Trojan Horse strategy by which the Greeks defeated Troy in the Trojan War. In fact, when boarding the wooden pony, Spike stated, "No one in'' history'' has ever done anything this clever!" * The songs Danger Zone and Through the Fire were previously used in the 1986 film Top Gun. * The Digimon and Power Rangers characters have been former properties of Saban Brands, until they were acquired by Hasbro, which explains the appearances of Kari and Alpha 5. * My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games and Digimon Adventure Tri: Reunion are both released in 2015. * My Little Pony: The Movie and the Power Rangers remake are both released in 2017. * This movie is released in 2019, the same year of Digmon's 20th anniversary. * The original G1 My Little Pony series debuted in 1984, the same year the actual Space Ace game was released. * Digimon: The Movie was released in 2000, the same year of Titan A.E., a Bluth movie dealing with space. * There is a character in the main Power Rangers continuity'','' also named Kimberly. Cast Twilight Sparkle Alicorn vector.png|Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle Canterlot Castle Spike 5.png|Cathy Weseluck as Spike Kari Kamiya render.png|Lara Jill Miller as Kari Ace transparent.png|Adam West as Ace Kimberly transparent.png|Dara McGarry as Kimberly Alpha 5.png|Richard Wood as Alpha 5 Koosy transparent.png|Dom Deluise as Koosy Borf and koopa credits.jpg|Kevin Michael Richardson as Borf and Koopa Stan transparent.png|Charles Nelson Reilly as Red Parrot Stan 150px-The Emperor KHII.png|Pat Mortia as the Emperor of Mars Tashi 1.png|James Hong as Tashi sam 2.jpg|James Shigeta as General Sam Deckard head cossack.jpg|Danny Mann as the Guard Pagemaster 2.png|Christopher Lloyd as the Pagemaster Pinkie pie and fluttershy credits.jpg|Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy Applejack & Rainbow credits.png|Ashleigh Ball as Applejack and Rainbow Dash Regal rarity by silentmatten-d4v0rwp.png|Tabitha St, Germain as Rarity Shining armor by sakatagintoki117-d5m9yay.png|Andrew Francis as Shining Armor FANMADE Princess Celestia Walking.png|Nicole Oliver as Princess Celestia Discord MLP.png|John de Lancie as Discord Ms_harshwhinny_vector_by_philomenathephoenix-d5zk0uh.png|Veena Sood as Ms. Harshwhinny Narrator.jpg|Roy Dotrice as the Narrator Mentioned only MLP The Movie The Storm King official artwork.png|Storm King Dirk the Daring-0.png|Dirk the Daring Mordroc 2.jpg|Mordroc Mane-iac.png|Mane-iac Music Score by Christopher L. Stone Songs: * Title theme: "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins * "You Can Do Anything" by Shining Armor * ''Lay Down Your Arms" by Twilight * "Snuff Out the Light" by Borf * "Hearts on Fire" by Ace * "Through the Fire" by Larry Greene * End Title Song: "Simply Meant to Be" by Gary Morris and Jennifer Warnes * Exit Music: "My Little Pony theme song Instrumental EG remix" by Daniel Ingram Presenters Lionsgate open.jpg|Lionsgate Hasbro open.png|Hasbro saban open.png|Saban Don Bluth Films, Inc. logo.png|Don Bluth Entertainment JAM Productions Logo.png|JAM Productions Cpb open.jpg|Corporation for Public Broadcasting YouTube Square.png|YouTube Full Movie Promotional trailer Category:Films